Dawn of the Darkest Light
by The Unwritten One
Summary: While people press for a fusion between families and that the Varia can no longer go on without a cloud guardian, people with ulterior motives seem to know more than they let on. In the end a fiancé is found and an assassin is hired as a wedding gift to the Varia. But where lies the truth and loyalty in the end? Contains pairings that shouldn't be taken seriously and OCs.
1. The First End

_It is not the end we are afraid of, and yet it is. We're afraid of how everything is going to end and yet we couldn't care less._

* * *

It was raining. I didn't notice until just now. The skies had been grey for quite sometime and had slowly become darker and darker. I suppose the sun had been setting, but I couldn't help but think that they had become darker because of the rain.

_That is ridiculous. Clouds don't turn darker by themselves, it's merely the light changing and you know it. You're foolish. You even think so yourself, don't you? DON'T YOU?!_

If I had any strength left I would've cried out, hit myself on the head a few times to get rid of those thoughts, but such strength had left me quite some time ago.  
It's been years since the last time I screamed. It just happened. I stopped screaming because my parents would complain I was to loud when I spoke. Some time after that I tried to shout, just to let it out, but I couldn't. I could open my mouth as wide open as possible, I could easily form the words I wanted to scream out, but the screaming itself never happened. I just… couldn't.

_You couldn't because you were scared. Even when no one was around you couldn't. Because you knew that no one would come. Because they don't care. Because you're worthless._

I don't even try to stop thinking like that. I tried fighting it. I tried to look for help, but nobody wanted to help me. And in the end I realised that that inner voice was right. I had become worthless. Or rather, I had been worthless to begin with. It's not like I asked for it, isn't it? It's not like I didn't try, right? So how can it be that I ended up like this?

There's no more hope left for me, right? _You're right._

It's going to end. This is the end for me, isn't it? _This is the end._

Why? Silence.

It was getting cold. The stones of the pavement are cold. They didn't become warmer, even as time passed. I could see the rain clouds become lighter. Dawn, this soon already?

How long I had been lying here?

I remember walking in the rain after dusk. The darkness didn't scare me. It never did. _It should have. _I suppose it might have been better if I had been scared. But I wasn't, so it doesn't matter. The what-ifs shouldn't matter. _But they do._  
I remember passing an alley. Then a blow to the head. I struggled, I fought, I'm sure of that, but it wasn't enough. _Weak. They beat you up and you let it happen. They left you for death._

I could get up, but I couldn't. I had the strength, but at the same time I hadn't. _Liar. You don't want to get up._

Yes, I don't want to get up. Because I'll just end up where it all started. I hate that place. _Liar. You don't hate that place. You don't hate home. _I hate it because of the memories. _Because of them. _Shut up. _It's true. _I know.

Sometimes I used to wonder if that voice was still me, or something much more sinister. I stopped caring about that and I learned that that voice is a me I don't want to know. Because that voice is right.

When did this all start? Long ago. When I was born? Before that? Perhaps even in the days before that. Would everything be different if I had been born first?

_No. It wouldn't, because you're worthless no matter how you look at it._

I tried hard, didn't I? I tried my best. _It wasn't enough. _I tried and tried. But everyone always hated me, everyone always thought I was just a piece of trash. It didn't matter what I did, whether it was good or bad, I would end up like this anyway, wouldn't I?

_You are jealous of others. Of their happiness. _No, not jealous. _Envy. _No. _Hate. _… No.

I just wanted to be praised. Just once was enough. I just wanted someone to praise what I did. _You'll throw away everything for that, won't you? _I already did. I threw myself away quite some time ago, didn't I? Nothing what I want matters. _Because you're worthless. _Because everything isn't enough.

Ah well, I do sound pathetic, don't I? You probably hate me as much as everybody else. _Your story doesn't matter to anyone. _From day one it was only mattered to me and even to me…

I wanted to disappear, didn't I? Nobody needed me when I was around. Nobody cared for me when I ran away. Nobody was worried when I fell. And when nobody is waiting for you, but you are waiting for everyone, isn't it a good time to quit?

I close my eyes. There's nothing left now is there? No hope. Only calmness.

It stopped raining. For how long has it stopped raining already? They're cold, these wet clothes. There's no point in getting up. My eyes force themselves open to see a cold grey sky. There's no wind today too, it seems. Would the wind start blowing soon? The clouds are moving so there should be wind, somewhere. Would the wind howl for me, who can't cry or scream anymore, just once? Could you make them feel regret for me?

_No. Everything you need to do, you need to do yourself. _I can't anymore. _This is the end._

I feel my eyes close again. A shock runs through my body. I break out in cold sweat. I gasp for breath. No. Not this end. Not the end. Please, someone, anyone!

_Fear._

My head rolls to the side, uncontrollably.

Something… someone is there, as dark as death would need to be. Who he… it… know? _No, nobody knows. _Would it… he… safe me? _Nobody would._

My hand extends towards it… him… that… as far as I can manage.

_This is the end for you._

What about your end? You're me and then again you're not, shouldn't this be your end too?

_I'm not scared of the end._

"Liar," I manage. I didn't know I could still speak. Then why now? "Everybody's scared of the end."

I can barely see the man… the thing… whoever… through my lashes. Have my eyes already closed that much? Am I that tired? Am I really this close to the end?

It's almost as if he comes closer. He doesn't become clearer as he comes closer. Only darker. Darkness doesn't scare me. _It should. _But it doesn't? Why do I feel calm? Why do I feel afraid?

A strange laugh is carried by a non-existent gust of wind.


	2. The Foreboding of the End

_Things we don't understand scare us, because we can't understand them._

* * *

It was late at night, although no clocks were around to determine what the exact time was, it must've been after one o'clock. Most people had long since gone to sleep, since tomorrow would be a long day of work or school that required getting up early. Some people were still awake, for different reasons. Some were awake because they still needed to finish some work or still needed to study for tests.

One of the people who were still awake at this hour was Hibari Kyoya and the only reason why he wandered the streets at this hour was to keep his precious Namimori safe. Hibird sat upon his shoulder, although he was tired and was close to falling asleep, he still stood by his master.

Hibari, although constantly napping at any given occasion, felt a tad tired too and decided that it'd be wise to buy himself a can of cooled green tea before patrolling the city one last time and after that heading home for a small nap. It'd be time to go to Namimori High soon after that.

Thoughtlessly, since he knew every building and every street by heart, his feet carried him to one of the few stores in Namimori that was open all hours of the night.

Upon entering the store he had to blink, since his eyes needed to get used to the bright light. He quickly walked trough the store, having visited so many times that he was well aware of where everything was stored away in the store.

He walked up to the counter and placed the can of tea on it.

"This one," he demanded. He did not expect the store owner to actually charge him for that, but it had become some sort of routine after Hibari had set off an alarm from a store one time too many, not that anyone even thought of having him pay, but it annoyed him.

The storeowner, a fat, greasy looking man in his late thirties, froze at the sight of him and nervously glanced from Hibari to his side.

"I was here first," The person the storeowner kept glancing to spoke.

Hibari looked to his left, ready to let this person pay for the lack of respect and for the fact that they were hindering him. He looked up at a tall, slender figure of a woman. She held no emotion in her voice, actions or face. She looked like a perfect example of what people regard as a perfect appearance, safe for her hair, which was cut in a bob with a fringe that was cut slantwise. Hibari felt like he had seen that kind of haircut somewhere.

She turned her head away from Hibari, not frightened by his aura or silence, and continued her business with the storeowner.

"And I also want two packs of Marlboro with that and one pack of Lucky Strike."

The storeowner reached for said items behind the counter.

Hibari pulled out a tonfa. "Smoking and drinking is forbidden for minors." He had seen the cans of beer in the plastic bag when the storeowner had put the cigarettes in. Although it might actually be doubtful if she really was a minor, but Hibari was planning on beating her up either way.

"Put a lighter with that too, while you're at it."

When the storeowner didn't do so, he was obviously frightened by Hibari, she leaned forward, crossed her arms, which she then leaned on the counter and used that maneuver to prop her breast up at bit. Her already low cut top helped to draw the storeowner's attention to them immediately. She cocked her head to the side.

"Please?" She didn't close her mouth all the way, but left them parted a bit.

The storeowner's hands shook, still afraid of Hibari, but convinced by the young woman's manipulating ways, and he quickly put it in the bag. He wanted to go to the cash register, but the woman put a bill of ten thousand yen on the counter.

"Keep the change," she said as she grabbed the bag and headed to the exit of the store.

Hibari pulled out his other tonfa. "For breaking the rules, I'll bite you to death."

The can of tea had been completely forgotten.

* * *

It was early in the morning, with the fog still covering the streets of Namimori and the sun having just risen above the horizon. There are not many people who go out at this time of day. Yet there was one individual who ran bravely across the empty streets.

"Jogging to the extreme!"

Ryohei Sasagawa was already breaking the silence on this early morning. It was something that happened daily and without fail and most residents of Namimori had long since given up on complaining, as they all knew that the boxer wouldn't give up his extreme training for anything.

"Today will be awesome to the extreme!" He shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "But first running to the extreme!" He began sprinting while sometimes swinging his fists in front of him to practice his swings.

In his enthusiasm, when he crossed a corner, he wanted to pump his fist in the air. Naturally, he closed his eyes and so did, but instead of his fist just passing through the air, it connected to something solid instead.

Before he had the chance to open his eyes and see who's jaw he had accidentally hit, his uppercut was returned to him with such speed that it, literally, made him loose his balance and fall backwards.

He opened his eyes and saw a rather angered girl standing in front of him. Her eye was twitching and she was still holding the hand she had used to hit him with in a fist. She was dressed in an outfit that, along with her long hair sticking to her face, suggested she had been out running too.

Ryohei didn't waste any time and had immediately gotten up on his feet again and was shouting.

"That was extreme! You should join the boxing club!"

The girl put a hand to her ear because of his shouting, while he was not even two feet away from her. She looked at him weirdly.

"Come on!" Ryohei continued his shouting, "You'd be an extreme addition to the boxing club!" In his enthusiasm he had actually gotten closer to the girl, who immediately turned bright red, although Ryohei was too dense to notice.

Within a flash he was punched, this time in the stomach, which caused him to step back.

Ryohei was still not let down and actually wanted to express how much more he was convinced that the girl should join the boxing club, but the girl beat him to it. She started yelling at him in a foreign language, although her angry tone and snarl on her face revealed that it was all but nice and friendly talk.

Ryohei cocked his head. "English?"

The girl's jaw tightened, but in response she only turned around and started to walk away at fast pace, which made her dark blue hair flutter behind her, although she was not running.

"Wait to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted while he ran after her.

* * *

The sun had already risen high above the sky and the fog had cleared from the streets, but the birds had yet to stop singing. But no bird dared to come near Kokuyo-land, which is why it remained silent there, although not often.

"Yo, Kakipi!" Ken shouted

Chikusa dragged himself towards Ken and M.M., who were both waiting for him to show up, so that they could head towards Kokuyo High. Mukuro had a habit of not showing up at school and since no teacher ever dared to report it, no body ever really noticed. And since Fran was too young to attend high school, he stayed behind too.

"You take way to long showers!" M.M. yelled at him.

"And you take too long picking out your clothes!" Ken shouted back at her.

"It's important for a girl to look good!" She immediately countered.

Chikusa just dragged himself towards the exit of Kokuyo land, not even bothering to involve himself in their argument in any way. He silenced them when they had stepped just outside of the gates of Kokuyo land.

"Ken. M.M.." He looked at the large wooden crate, which looked a lot like a coffin, had it not been for the poor quality of the wood.

"What's that?" Ken shouted.

"Like any of us know, you dog!" M.M. replied.

"It looks like some kind of container," Ken stated unnecessary, "it smells funny too. What's inside?"

"We should open it to find out! There could be clothes inside or, even better, jewelry!" M.M. said gleefully.

Chikusa, as the only one paying enough attention to the details, was reading a note attached to the box.

_Sorry to bother you,_

_We were, due to mechanical difficulties, unable to take this with us. We will come to pick it up next Monday. Please bear with us until then._

_We apologize for the inconvenience,_

_Yume Corporation._

"Seems like it'll be taken care of soon," Chikusa said.

The three of them left towards school, without encountering any other strange things on their way.


	3. The First Sign of an End

_We cannot see danger coming, when we do not realize it is dangerous. Thus we cannot prevent it. In hindsight, we always damn the times we could've prevented such disasters. _

* * *

It started out as a normal morning for Tsuna. Like always, he was woken up by Nana, when he failed to respond to his alarm clock. As usual, he ate barely anything but rice in the morning, since everybody at the table always took the liberty to steal Tsuna's food. Although Tsuna had received the official title of Vongola the Tenth and would soon have to go to Italy, in order to learn the more technical side of being the head of the Vongola – something Reborn had never actually done –, he was still no-good Tsuna.

But the morning went on like normal, as stated before, which meant that when he finally walked out of the door, Yamamoto and Gokudera were already waiting for him and greeted him as usual.

I suppose the oddities, although not really standing out in Tsuna's life, which was made of strange events, started when Tsuna and his friends had arrived at school and were settling down at their desks. Gokudera, however, had left them for a quick smoke behind the gymnasium. Knowing him, he would turn up either just in time for class or a minute late.

On the board were a few notices of the homeroom teacher, who would later go over them with the class. On top of the list stood: 'New exchange student.' The 'new' was quite important, since at least half of Tsuna's class had to exist of exchange students by now. Still, people talked about the new students and all spoke out their hopes that it would be someone pretty and cute or handsome and tall, depending on the gender of the speaker.

Reborn however, always talked about new students – exchange students especially – in his own way.

"Do you think the new student would be a good addition to the family?"

"Reborn!" Tsuna immediately shouted. Nobody was surprised by the usual shriek and nobody seemed to find it weird that a baby was sitting on Tsuna's desk. But these events had become a normal way of starting the day at Namimori, so I suppose there is some logic to their ignorance.

"You can't just want people to join the family! I don't even know what the new student is like!" Tsuna continued shrieking.

"Mysterious people always make good Mafioso," the baby countered.

Although Tsuna would've loved to try and explain to Reborn that there couldn't was no way to know that for sure, but at that moment he noticed Kyoko walking up to him with a worried look on her face and clutching a bag that wasn't hers.

"Ah, Kyoko-chan, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked. It surprised him how easy it had become for him to speak to her so casually.

"Well, I can't seem to find my big brother." She clutched the bag a bit tighter and Tsuna recognized it as Ryohei's.

"But isn't he more often missing in the morning?" Tsuna asked.

"Yeah, but not like this. He often forgets his bag, but I always find him around his classroom." She looked like she was about to cry and Tsuna felt obligated to say something.

"I-It's going to be alright! We'll go look for him!"

Her face lit up immediately. "Really? Thank you! But we'd have to wait until break…"

"Yeah…" Tsuna said, lowering his face.

"Well, knowing him he wouldn't turn up until then, so it's useless to look for him now," Yamamoto said, bringing in some much needed positivity.

At that moment the homeroom teacher walked in and was followed by Gokudera, who happened to enter a moment later. When he stood still, he also blocked the way to Gokudera's desk, so Gokudera was forced to stay behind him and wait until he could sit down.

The teacher turned to the class and immediately got to the point.

"Today you will be joined by a new exchange student," he sighed and probably would've loved to add 'again' to the sentence, but he didn't and turned around. He probably wanted to introduce the exchange student with some cheesy line he had said a few times to many, but he was faced with Gokudera instead.

For a moment everything was silent.

"Gokudera-san, this is no time for jokes."

"Tch," was all Gokudera said. He finally was granted access to his chair, while the teacher walked to the door, looking even more agitated than before, to see where the new student was.

When she walked in, it immediately became clear that she was exactly the opposite of almost everything everyone had expected. The best way to describe her in Tsuna's eyes would be a female version of Gokudera, with the chains, rings and not-so-neat uniform she wore. Her hair was short and black and just as rebellious as the rest of her appearance. Although her face and looks, apart from her dressing choices, were probably ratable above average, there was no way someone would ever say to her face that she was pretty or cute. Even if you dared to say it, there was just no way to find her cute at all.

Tsuna's illusion of a Gokudera-like girl was thrown out of the window when she was asked to write her name on the board and introduce herself.

She wrote two Katakana characters on the board, using a bit to much force when using the piece of chalk, resulting in writing that would make Tsuna's seem as perfect as can be.

"I am Kay."

Although not the whole class burst out laughing, a lot of people giggled or stifled laughs behind their hands. Kay looked at them before a huge realization hit her. She immediately dug a piece of crumbled up paper from her pocket, looked at it and then to the board, then to the paper and back to the board. She grabbed the piece of chalk again and put a huge cross through what she had written before –which actually spelled 'May,' if you are wondering –, for some reason forgetting to use the eraser. The result was an even more illegible name. She frowned and then put another cross through it. She then wrote her name in roman letters.

"I am Kay," she repeated, with more strength in her voice than before, "I am from Germany and my motto for the past thirty minutes has been: 'If you want to stick your nose in other people's business, you shouldn't mind getting your ask kicked either.' " This effectively shut up everyone still laughing.

* * *

"Sawada!" At the exact moment that the break had started, the door was opened with a little too much force. Ryohei Sasagawa was no longer on his way to become an officially missing person, although he did look shabby, still being dressed in his jogging outfit. This action did immediately draw the attention of everyone in class. Not that the boxing captain seemed to mind.

"I need to talk to you to the extreme!"

Kyoko jumped up from her seat, which seemed to cause the whole class to get back to their own business.

"Big Brother!" She immediately said while pouting.

"Ah, Kyoko! I was just… I was just taking a long run to the extreme!" He tried to find an excuse quickly, which most probably hadn't even been a real lie.

"But still, you shouldn't just skip school for that. You made everyone worry!"

"But I'm here now to the extreme!" He beamed with energy. "And I apologize to the extreme!"

Finally Kyoko's face lit up, she seemed to have accepted Ryohei's apology and his excuse. She handed her brother her bag and went to have lunch with Hana and Chrome. Just after she waved goodbye, Ryohei immediately got to the point of his sudden visit.

"Sawada! I need you to find me someone to the extreme!"

Tsuna had to blink a few time. Yamamoto chuckled and Gokudera muttered something that sounded like 'Lawn head.'

"What?" He seemed unable to notice how everyone reacted at his request and continued, "Sawada know a lot of extreme foreigners, right? I need to find a foreigner to the extreme!"

"Why would you want that?" Tsuna couldn't imagine that anyone would want to meet the kind of foreigners he had to deal with.

"Well…" Ryohei appeared to be thinking deeply for a moment, "I went out for an extreme run this morning and I got punched by this extreme girl! But when I asked her to join the boxing club to the extreme, she punched me again and started talking in this extremely odd language. So I tried to follow her, but half an hour ago she just disappeared to the extreme." For a moment Ryohei paused before he finished with a last sentence with fire burning in his eyes. "I must have that punch in the boxing club to the extreme!"

"I don't know if I can help you," Tsuna stuttered, "There are quite a few foreigners around that I don't know…" At that moment a million questions raised through his head. Why would Ryohei pick him as search engine? Shouldn't they be more concerned about the fact that the girl might contact the police, since a strange guy has been stalking her all morning? Why couldn't he just have a normal morning for once? Why him?

"I think we can help him, I mean, there can't be all that many foreign girls here?" Yamamoto smiled. "We have already met one today, didn't we?"

"But-" Tsuna wanted to explain that Kay had been sitting at her desk, bored but still clearly at her desk, the whole morning, thus there was no way for her to actually be running around town, followed by some random boxer. But the rest had already prepared to go search Kay and all Tsuna could do was follow behind.

* * *

They found Kay somewhere around the buildings used for club activities, she was opening and closing doors at random, in a quite unorganized way for someone whose looking for something. Tsuna even witnessed her kicking, literally kicking, the door open that led to the men's bathroom. Despite the fact that a male actually shrieked, Kay did not flinch at the sight of someone in the room.

She shot them a sideway glance when she heard them coming and shrugged.

"Like I know it says bathroom." She pointed at the now, thankfully, closed door which actually did not have any characters on it, but the blue figure people usually use to identify the room as the men's bathroom.

"You dense woman!" Gokudera shouted. He most likely wanted to add something about saying stupid things in the presence of the Tenth, but Kay's tongue was quicker to insult.

"HA! So there are actually moron's within this school who've got eyes!" She seemed pleased with her half-baked insult and grinned to herself.

"Don't you dare to call the Tenth a moron!" Gokudera shouted again. Kay did not seem to be impressed at all and actually used that time to run a hand through her hair, probably to fix it, and look out of the window.

"So, now that we've established you have eyes, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find this Mochida dude?" She continued as if she was just having a normal conversation.

"Why do you want to find him?" Yamamoto asked.

"Eh?" She looked as if it was the least expected question on earth, "Well, I like… I used to… What was it?" She seemed to be digging in her memory for the words she needed. Tsuna felt a bit of sympathy for her. If anyone struggled with Japanese, it was him, and he was supposed to be a native speaker.

"I like swords!" She suddenly exclaimed, determined to use the, probably less detailed and more vague explanation, "and the only thing they seem to do here in Japan that involves swords nowadays is Kendo!"

"Ah!" Tsuna suddenly remembered his own experience with the captain of the Kendo department of Namimori High, "You want to join the Kendo club?" He shrieked his words more than necessary, but, alas, he still found it hard to believe that he had actually beaten the captain, and many more and many stronger opponents too.

"Is that how you say that?" She looked wondered for a moment, "Never mind, if you haven't seen him, I'll go look myself." She was about to leave when Tsuna remembered why they had actually bothered to go look for her.

"Hey!" She stopped and looked over her shoulder, to listen impatiently to what Tsuna had to say.

"Do you happen to have brought a friend with you? A girl that goes running in the mornings?"

"She has an extreme punch too!" Ryohei shouted as an addition.

For a moment Kay looked amused and she grinned cockily, almost slyly, "A friend that runs and has an extreme punch? A friend? Did I bring a friend with me? Geez, I don't know, if I'd happen to bring a friend with me, don't you think I'd be stuck in this boring hellhole alone?!" After that she swiftly left, before anyone could ask her anything else.

The only one with something left to say was Ryohei.

"So, does she have an extreme friend or not?"


End file.
